Dr. Thomas Kerr is a Research Scientist with the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. In his current role at the BC Centre, Dr. Kerr is a principal investigator of several large cohort studies involving injection drug users, HIV-positive individuals and street-involved youth.

In the latest salvo in the battle over Vancouver’s controversial safe drug injection site, leading researchers are criticizing the Harper government for not differentiating between legitimate science and a report endorsed by a U.S. law-and-order lobby group.

Supporters of Canada’s harm-reduction approach to drug addiction are livid that a United Nations monitoring body wants Ottawa to slam the door shut on Vancouver’s safe-injection site — and put an end to distribution of “safe” crack kits to addicts.

The authors of a Reflection and Reaction comment in the March issue of The Lancet Infectious Diseases take a hard line on some health policy research posted on the Internet, especially regarding evidence based drug harm reduction.

Up to 15 per cent of incarcerated drug users report injecting heroin and cocaine while behind bars, according to one of two new studies that say Canadian prisons are contributing to the spread of the virus that causes AIDS.